Israel says it will suspend more than three dozen humanitarian organisations, including Doctors Without Borders, for failing to meet its new rules for aid groups working in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n
Organisations facing bans starting on Thursday didn\u2019t meet new requirements for sharing information on their staffs, funding and operations, Israeli authorities said.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n Other major organisations affected include the Norwegian Refugee Council, CARE International, the International Rescue Committee, and divisions of major charities such as Oxfam and Caritas.<\/p>\n Israel accused Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF, of failing to clarify the roles of some staff members, alleging they cooperated with Hamas.<\/p>\n \u201cThe message is clear: Humanitarian assistance is welcome. The exploitation of humanitarian frameworks for terrorism is not,\u201d Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli said.<\/p>\n MSF \u2013 one of the largest medical groups operating in Gaza, where the health sector has been targeted and largely destroyed \u2013 said Israel\u2019s decision will have a catastrophic impact on its work in the enclave, where it supports about 20 percent of the hospital beds and one-third of births. The organisation also denied Israel\u2019s accusations about its staff.<\/p>\n \u201cMSF would never knowingly employ people engaging in military activity,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n International organisations said Israel\u2019s rules are arbitrary. Israel said 37 groups working in Gaza didn\u2019t have their permits renewed.<\/p>\n Aid organisations help with a variety of social services, including food distribution, healthcare, mental health and disability services, and education.<\/p>\n Amjad Shawa from the Palestine NGOs Network said the decision by Israel is part of its ongoing effort\u00a0 \u201cto deepen the humanitarian catastrophe\u201d in Gaza.<\/p>\n \u201cThe limitations on the humanitarian operations in Gaza are in order to continue their project to push out the Palestinians, deport Gaza. This is one of the things Israel continues doing,\u201d Shawa told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n Dr James Smith, a British physician who has volunteered in Gaza and then was denied re-entry by Israeli authorities, condemned the restrictions on aid groups.<\/p>\n \u201cA situation that is already horrific will be made even more horrific. The changes will be immediate and they will be ruthless,\u201d Smith told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s move comes as at least 10 countries expressed \u201cserious concerns\u201d about a \u201crenewed deterioration of the humanitarian situation\u201d in Gaza, describing it as \u201ccatastrophic\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cAs winter draws in civilians in Gaza are facing appalling conditions with heavy rainfall and temperatures dropping,\u201d Britain, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland said in a joint statement.<\/p>\n \u201c1.3 million people still require urgent shelter support. More than half of health facilities are only partially functional and face shortages of essential medical equipment and supplies. The total collapse of sanitation infrastructure has left 740,000 people vulnerable to toxic flooding.\u201d<\/p>\n The countries urged Israel to ensure international NGOs can operate in Gaza in a \u201csustained and predictable\u201d way and called for the opening of land crossings to boost the flow of humanitarian aid.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the joint statement \u201cfalse but unsurprising\u201d and \u201cpart of a recurring pattern of detached criticism and one-sided demands on Israel while deliberately ignoring the essential requirement \u200cof disarming Hamas\u201d.<\/p>\n Four months ago, more than 100 aid groups accused Israel of obstructing life-saving aid from entering Gaza and called on it to end its \u201cweaponisation of aid\u201d as it refused to allow aid trucks to enter the battered Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n More than 71,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023. Hundreds have died from severe malnutrition and thousands more from preventable diseases because of a lack of medical supplies.<\/p>\n Israel claims it\u2019s upholding the aid commitments laid out in the latest ceasefire, which took effect on October 10, but humanitarian groups dispute Israel\u2019s numbers and say a lot more aid is desperately needed in the devastated enclave of more than two million Palestinians.<\/p>\n Israel changed its registration process for aid groups in March, which included a requirement to submit a list of staff, including Palestinians in Gaza.<\/p>\n Some aid groups said they didn\u2019t submit a list of Palestinian staff for fear those employees would be targeted by Israel.<\/p>\n \u201cIt comes from a legal and safety perspective. In Gaza, we saw hundreds of aid workers get killed,\u201d said Shaina Low, communications adviser for the Norwegian Refugee Council.<\/p>\n The decision not to renew aid groups\u2019 licences means their offices in Israel and occupied East Jerusalem will close and organisations won\u2019t be able to send international staff or aid into Gaza.<\/p>\n \u201cDespite the ceasefire, the needs in Gaza are enormous, and yet we and dozens of other organisations are and will continue to be blocked from bringing in essential lifesaving assistance,\u201d Low said. \u201cNot being able to send staff into Gaza means all of the workload falls on our exhausted local staff.\u201d<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s decision means the aid groups will have their licences revoked on Thursday and, if they are located in Israel, they will need to leave by March 1, according to the ministry.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t the first time Israel has tried to crack down on international humanitarian organisations. Throughout the war, it accused the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, of being infiltrated by Hamas and Hamas of using UNRWA\u2019s facilities and taking its aid. The UN has denied that.<\/p>\n In October, the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion saying Israel must support UN relief efforts in Gaza, including those conducted by UNRWA.<\/p>\n The court found Israel\u2019s allegations against UNRWA \u2013 including that it was complicit in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel \u2013 were unsubstantiated.<\/p>\n The court also said Israel, as the occupying power, must ensure the \u201cbasic needs\u201d of the Palestinian population of Gaza are met, \u201cincluding the supplies essential for survival\u201d, such as food, water, shelter, fuel and medicine.<\/p>\n A number of countries halted funding for UNRWA after Israel\u2019s accusations, jeopardising one of Gaza\u2019s most desperately needed lifelines.<\/p>\n Israel says it will suspend more than three dozen humanitarian organisations, including Doctors Without Borders, for failing to meet its new rules for aid groups working in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip. Organisations facing bans starting on Thursday didn\u2019t meet new requirements for sharing information on their staffs, funding and operations, Israeli authorities said. Recommended Stories […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7008,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
![\"INTERACTIVE-GAZA](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Food-aid-Gaza-1766420476.png?w=770&resize=770%2C962&quality=80\")
<\/p>\n\u2018Appalling conditions\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018Needs in Gaza are enormous\u2019<\/h2>\n
Desperately needed lifelines<\/h2>\n
![\"[Al](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Interactive_Gaza_foodaid_timeline-1742987531-1744365779.webp?w=770&resize=770%2C963&quality=80\")
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